Warp Storm This story contains sex between minor boys and teen-agers. If
such things offend you, or you are not at least 18 years of age, then
please don't read on. This story is not true, but who knows, maybe some
day it will be.

The First Officer called the Captain and woke him up. The Captain listened
and then thanked him. If a flash was seen it meant a warp storm was
somewhere close. It was the only warning a storm gave. But seeing a flash
didn't mean the storm was ahead. It just meant it was close. If the flash
kept getting closer than the storm was ahead. The Captain went to sleep,
even if it was ahead it was probably two days away.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Monday morning found Mike feeling free. His restriction was over. He could
go to the games room tonight and relax and enjoy his friends. He was FREE!

Alex woke up next to his brother. He kissed him on the lips and wished him
good morning.

"Are you ready for tonight, Stevie?"

"I am. It's all set. Everybody is ready."

The other boys woke up in their rooms ready for another week. They were
close to the halfway point of the trip. All of them were getting ready to
get to AO IV, but they all knew that this was a very special trip because
of the relationships they were forming, and having special friends was
making it seem shorter.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Braden woke up early Monday morning and looked at the strong athletic boy
lying next to him in his bed. He snuggled up close, wondering how a sickly
little boy like him could be so lucky. Why did this big handsome boy
choose him to be his boyfriend? Well, for now he didn't care. He would
take what he could for as long as he could. He wanted to think this would
last forever, but he knew that there was no way Jeremy could ever stick
with a loser like him. So maybe he should change some. Get away from the
loser image.

When he was little his cousin never could seem to say Braden. He always
called him Brett. When he finally figured out that Braden's name was
Braden and not Brett he said, "Braden is a dumb name. I like Brett
better. Brett is smart. Braden is dumb. My cousin is smart so he is Brett."
So, to his cousin Keith he was always Brett.

Keith was four then and Braden was nine. He died a year later in an
accident. Braden had loved his little cousin. He and his dad used to joke
about him being Brett and not Braden. Maybe now was the time to remember
his dead little cousin. Shed the dumb loser, Braden. Be the smart cousin
Brett.

Jeremy rolled over and looked at Braden.

"Hey cutie. You're already awake," he said with a smile.

"Yeah. Jeremy, can I ask you something?"

"Anything sweetie." Jeremy was running his hand through Braden's hair,
kissing him lightly along his face and neck and chest.

"If I decided I wanted to be called a name other than Braden, would you go
by that name?"

"Anything you want, sweetie." He kept kissing Braden as Braden worked up
the courage to go on.

"Do you think you could call me Brett instead of Braden?"

"Can I ask why?" Jeremy asked between kisses.

Braden told him the story about the name.

"My love. You could never be a loser with me. I don't care what you call
yourself. But if it makes you happy, I love you, Brett."

"I love you Jermy."

As Jeremy continued kissing Brett's body, Brett wondered how he was going
to break the news to dad. Brett. It sounded just right. But it didn't
take long for Jeremy to get Brett's thoughts to focus on another subject
altogether.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In the bridge Captain Fuller was looking at the view screen. Robert
Charles's dad was with him. Every now and then the steady picture outside
would flicker with a flash going by.

"So, what does all this mean Captain?"

"It means we are going to meet up with a warp storm very soon."

"Is it dangerous?"

"They can be rough. We'll bounce around some. But we have learned over the
years of warp travel that a warp storm is really only dangerous if we leave
warp during the storm. The "Heinlein" disaster finally proved that."

"What happened?"

"Early in warp travel, six ships were lost without a trace. Never heard a
thing. They thought it might be from warp storms, that they broke apart or
something. But the ships that went through a warp storm sometimes got
shook up and a little damaged but nothing really serious. Then the "Robert
Heinlein" hit a storm just before getting to the Betaken system. The
captain figured he was close anyway, so he dropped out of warp. It tore his
ship apart. Only 150 survivors. But they learned that you don't take a ship
out of warp during a storm.

"I was on the 'Galaxy Conqueror' when it had to go past its destination for
two days then turn around so it wouldn't drop out or warp during a
storm. If we have to, we shut down systems to make sure the warp engines
get all the power they need."

"Can't you drop out now and just wait it out?"

"No, because we can't tell where it is when we're out of warp. We lose a
lot of time for no reason. It's easier to get shook up a bit. We might as
well just go through it."

"Thank you, Captain.

"You're welcome, Governor."

Robert Charles's dad left the bridge. The Captain watched the flashes get
closer and closer together. Another day and we will feel it, he
thought. Only one trip in a hundred runs into a warp storm. So why me?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When class started Robert Charles made a couple of announcements.

"This evening I have the gym reserved just for our class. I expect all of
you to be there. No excuse of slacking. We all need the exercise. I told
Mr. Z. that anybody who doesn't show up should get two days cabin
restriction. He agreed with me, so everybody better be there."

"That's not fair," Douglas said.

"Who asked you? Nobody wants your opinion. Who elected you leader?
Nobody. I think the vote went my way."

There were a couple of moans from the class. Alex was fuming. They had
something planned after school, and he wasn't going to change the
plans. But now he had to figure out a different way to get them done.

"Maybe you can change it to a different day," Douglas said. "In case some
of us have plans."

"Plans? This is a space ship, doofus. What kind of plans can you have?"

Alex spoke up. "You are saying we get restriction for not going anyway?
What makes you our boss?"

"I was elected class leader. That does."

"Well, I didn't vote for you. Neither did my brother. And I'm sure Douglas
didn't. In fact, according to Mr. Z, there were seven of us who didn't vote
for you."

"Which makes ten who did, genius."

"Two things, RC," Douglas said. "First, we elected you class leader. Not
class boss. To help out Mr. Z. and us, not to go bossing us around."

"You don't need to bring up the second thing, because you're way out of
line, Dougie. And don't call me RC."

"And second, if you want to lead, you can do it without calling people
names and putting them down. And if I'm Dougie, then you're RC."

"I gotta give you credit, Dougie. You're one funny guy. You lead by making
sure everybody knows your better than they are. Or didn't you learn that
being President of that wimpy school of yours?"

"Maybe you should just shut up," Scooter said, face red and blushing.

Robert Charles stared at him. "And what do you want, little boy? You better
treat me with respect or I will squash you like the bug you are."

"Maybe you should earn the respect," Jeremy said. "I voted for you and I'm
getting real unhappy I did. Maybe we should ask the other eight how they
feel. I won't even bother to ask you."

Robert Charles started to speak but then Mr. Z. came into the room.

"See you all at the gym this afternoon guys," he said and then he sat down.

"Like hell you will," Alex muttered to himself.

"I hear Robert Charles has set up the gym for you guys. And put a little
penalty in for not showing up and getting exercise. I think Robert Charles
is an excellent leader for this class."

"He makes me want to puke," Alex whispered to Mike. Mike nodded yes.

Mr. Z then started talking about their papers on alien life forms. He
talked about how some of them thought there was no other intelligent life
and some thought there was but that space was big and we just haven't found
them yet.

"Douglas, you think there is intelligent life. Why do you think so when
with all our exploring we have to bring Earth life to every planet we put
colonies on?"

"Well, sir, we've only explored a few hundred star systems. And there are
billions of them. So how can we say there is no intelligent life?"

"Jeez, Douglas, we haven't even found simple life yet. How can you even
think there is any more intelligent life like us?" Robert Charles asked.

"How can he put himself in that category," Alex muttered to Mike. Mike
almost laughed out loud.

The argument went back and forth. Robert Charles kept saying there was no
way there could be life. Because they would have found it by now just by
traveling in warp space to so many places. And they couldn't even find
simple life anywhere.

Douglas said one of the reasons they were exploring space was to find
intelligent life. So some pretty important people must think it's worth
looking for.

Jordan said that Douglas was wrong. That space was being explored to find
new colonies, not to find life because everybody knew there wasn't any. And
he should know because his dad used to be on an exploration ship.

By the time they got finished discussing nobody had really changed his
mind. Jim agreed with Robert Charles and Jordan because of his mom's
job. She was an expert on alien life. But he wanted to disagree just
because they were big time assholes about it.

After the discussion the day seemed to drag on for everybody. After school
most of them went to the games room. Mike noticed that Alex wasn't there,
or Stevie either. When he asked nobody seemed to know where they were.

"Maybe practicing," Scooter said. It was also in the games room that
Braden announced he now wanted to be called Brett. In fact he WAS Brett.
"Sounds like a real identity crisis to me," Mike told Douglas. "Well, if
it somehow makes him more confident, then great. I mean I don't think his
self image can get much lower, so maybe something to boost it up will
help," Douglas replied.

After dinner, Ryan asked Mike to meet him in the games room.

"You said anytime I needed to talk you would be there."

"Yup yup I said that. You have something bugging you, Ryan?"

"I just need to see you. Maybe we can meet there then find someplace
private to talk."

"Ok. I'll see you in the games room after dinner."

When dinner was over Mike went to the games room. Nobody was there except
Jeremy, Ryan, Robert Charles, Lisa, Carmen, and Felicia.

"Please, Jeremy. It's important. Do it for me. And for Braden, I mean
Brett."

"For..um...Brett?"

"Yeah. He wants you to talk and get things straightened out.

"Well....I don't know. But ok, if you two guys want it."

Mike, Ryan, and Jeremy started out of the room. Robert Charles came up to
them.

"You guys have a hot date?"

"No," Ryan said. "We're just going to talk."

"Yeah, right. Well, don't let your butts get too sore. Hahaha. Don't forget
to be at the gym at 7:00. That's a half hour from now, so I guess it's
gonna have to be a quickie. Hahaha."

"Shut up, RC," Mike said. "Quit being an asshole."

"The only asshole is you, Mike. I'm not the one punching defenseless
kids. You loser. If you're not at the gym I'll see you get double
restriction. And quit calling me RC, Mikey."

Mike took a step toward Robert Charles but Jeremy grabbed his arm.

"Not now. Please, let's go."

"You're going to get what's coming to you, RC, leader or no leader. And
you're no leader in my book."

Jeremy glared at Robert Charles. He was wishing more and more he hadn't
voted for Robert Charles.

Matthew was playing pool with Jordan. He looked up and watched the three
boys leave. He wished he could go with them. He bent over to hit the ball
and felt Jordan rub his butt. He was beginning to hate Jordan.

The three boys went to the first elevator. Marie was waiting for him. They
went into the elevator and Marie punched in a code. They went down past the
first passenger deck and stopped a couple of decks down.

"Where are we going?" Mike asked. "What's going on?"

"Just wait," Ryan said.

The door opened and Mike saw that they were in a hold full of
freight. Marie told them to have fun and closed the door of the
elevator. The elevator went back up.

They walked around some huge cases and suddenly were in an open space
between cases. And up next to the case standing on a platform were Alex and
Stevie with their instruments. As soon as they saw Mike they started
playing. Mike was stunned to see that they were both naked. They started
singing. The whole room filled with sound.

When the first song ended Alex looked at Mike. "Mike, I know how things
haven't been going great for you. But I want you to know I believe in
you. You are the best friend I ever had. You missed the concert because of
something you didn't do. Now you get to hear it with your friends." Alex
blew him a kiss and started playing again.

Mike looked around the room. Scooter, Douglas, Brett, Jim, Travis, were
all there too. Mike felt warm all over seeing who was there. He could feel
a lot of the hurt of the last couple of weeks leave. He was amazed seeing
the brothers playing naked, and it made him excited.

After a few songs Alex paused and called Mike up to him. He whispered
something to Mike and Mike nodded yes.

Alex looked at Mike and started singing.

Boy of my dreams When you're not around I miss you, miss you like crazy.

Mike could feel tears build up. This was so awesome, he thought. So amazing
and incredible. When the song ended Alex talked to them all again.

"You guys all see that Stevie and I are naked. It's how we practice in
here. It's how we want to play for you. The natural way. I just want to say
this. You've heard me sing about the boy of my dreams. Well, he is the one
I am doing this concert for. He is Mike. I love you, Mike."

"I love you, Alex."

Then Stevie talked. "I'm gay. My brother is gay. The one I love is Jim. I
love you Jim."

"I love you, Steve," Jim said. Jim and Steve had already set this up. They
were ready to do it.

"This next song is a great dancing song. If anybody wants to dance, go for
it," Alex said.

He and Stevie started playing. Douglas looked at Scooter. Scooter looked
back. That's all it took. The two of them stared dancing together.

"I love you, Scooter."

"I love you, Douglas."

The other boys saw them dancing. Suddenly Ryan was dancing with
Travis. Jeremy looked at Braden. Braden backed away, turning red. Jeremy
held out his hand. Braden looked at him and didn't take it. Jeremy stepped
a step closer. Finally Brett took his hand and started dancing. Mike went
to stand next to Alex and Jim walked up to Stevie. Alex and Stevie started
playing louder and better.

When the song ended, Douglas kissed Scooter. Travis saw that and kissed
Ryan. Then Mike and Alex kissed and so did Jim and Stevie. Once again
Brrett got shy, and Jeremy didn't push it. He wanted Brett to do everything
when he was totally ready. Maybe I need some time to really become Brett,
the one time Braden thought. Douglas got up on the platform. He waved
Scooter up next to him. He looked around the room.

"I think we have something special here. I want you all to know I love
Scooter. And Scooter loves me. And I see some awesome dancing going on. I'm
gay. So is my sweet love." Douglas leaned over and kissed Scooter full on
the lips. He got a great kiss back from him.

"I'm gay and in love."

"I love you Douglas," Scooter said.

Douglas went on. "I think we have something special here," he
repeated. Robert Charles, Jordan, Matthew, and the girls were invited. They
didn't want to come for whatever reason. Well, it's their loss. We're
here. I don't know if the rest of you are gay, and I don't care. I know
some of you voted for RC. I mean he did get 10 votes. And I don't care
about that either. I think today we all showed we are the most awesome
group of boys to ever travel in space."

Travis looked at Ryan. Ryan nodded yes. "Travis and I love each other
too. And we're gay, just like you guys."

Jeremy looked at Brett. He shook his head no. I've danced with him and
kissed him, Brett thought. I'm not going any farther. Jeremy saw again
getting Brett to really open up was going to be slow. But it would
happen. The Brett part would take over.

Now it was Alex's turn to talk. "I'm not criticizing anybody here, but I
hope some of us have kind of figured out they made a mistake at election
time. Just listening to Douglas I can see I made the right choice when I
voted. We're all going to get some kind of restriction tomorrow according
to our fearless leader. I can't think of a better way to earn it then with
you guys."

Alex blew them all a big kiss and he and Stevie started playing again. The
rest of the boys danced. Braden saw what was happening, looked at Jeremy,
and realized suddenly how much he loved him. And he saw how much love there
was in the room and suddenly looked at Jeremy and nodded yes. Now all the
boys were dancing.

When the song ended Mike looked at everybody. "Thanks Alex. You're
great. This was so awesome. I love you." Everybody could see the tears in
Mike's eyes, and nobody cared. They all started cheering, even Jeremy.

Then Douglas said, "I think we are all behind you now, Mike. Let's dance!!"

Alex and Stevie were starting to playing and the dancing started up
again. Suddenly two people came around the corner and around the freight
boxes. It was Robert Charles and the recreation director. The music and
the dancing stopped. It was totally quiet in the big room.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After Robert Charles had seen Ryan, Jeremy, and Mike leave he went to the
gym with Jordan and Matthew. They changed in the locker room. Robert
Charles found he couldn't take his eyes off Jordan or Matthew when they
stripped down to their undies. He felt himself getting hard. Damn, he
thought, I'm not a faggot like the rest of the boys in this fucking loser
of a ship. So why am I getting hard?

At five minutes to 7 the walked into they gym. Some adults were still there
just finishing up. The RD was sitting on a chair on the sidelines. The only
kids in the gym so far were him, Jordan, Matthew, Lisa, Carmen, and
Felicia. At 7:00 it didn't change. At 7:05 it didn't change. At 7:15 it
didn't change. Robert Charles was so angry he wanted to hit something.

The RD walked finally walked up to him and asked where everybody was.

"They all said they would be here,'" Robert Charles lied. "I don't know
what happened."

The RD went to a phone and made a call. He called Marie and asked if she
had seen any of the boys. Marie didn't answer right away. But since the RD
was her boss she finally had to tell him.

Robert Charles told everyone to wait and that he would be right back. Then
he and the RD went down to the cargo hold. As soon as they got off the
elevator they could hear the music. When they got around the corner there
were Alex and Stevie, naked and hard and sweaty playing their music loud
and with love, and 10 boys dancing with each other (Mike and Jim were
dancing this one together). The music stopped. It got totally quiet.

"What a bunch of faggots!" Robert Charles yelled. "And to think I worked to
get your votes and wanted to be your leader. Fuck, I can see that you guys
need me more than you think. You're all a bunch of losers, and I'm going to
see you straighten up or you're all gonna hear from me. I don't plan on
leading losers."

"The only loser in this room is you, RC," Alex said. "Now bug off, we're
having fun here, and it all seemed to happen without you."

"You were supposed to be in the gym. And you all knew that. And if you and
Mikey keep calling me RC I'm going to flatten one of you."

Douglas said, "Robert Charles and Alex, let's cool it. We were having too
much fun. Let's not spoil it tonight."

"Yeah, you're right, Doug. I'm sorry," Alex said.

"Stay out of this fag boy. Nobody elected you anything."

"You are showing great leadership Robert Charles. You were elected to lead,
not to boss us around. And not to insult us and call us names."

"I am leading, which you obviously don't realize. You guys were supposed to
be in the gym tonight. Now it's going to be restriction. And you will see
how good a leader I am when that restriction is enforced. But, I'll tell
you what. I bet the RD will let me reserve the gym again tomorrow. And I
bet you all will be there. I won't tell Mr. Z. about what happened today if
you show up tomorrow."

Some voice in the room said, "Fuck you, Robert Charles."

He looked to see who it was. But he couldn't tell. All he knew was he had
never been madder in his whole life.

The Recreation Director then said it was time for them to leave. While Alex
and Stevie got dressed he walked up to them.

"I want to see both of you in my office after school tomorrow," he said and
he walked away. Alex looked at Stevie and shrugged his shoulders. They'd
had all kinds of trouble before and got by without any problem. There
wasn't a heck of a lot the Recreation Director could do to them that was
worse than anybody else.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Robert Charles was fuming all the way back to the gym. When he got there
only Lisa, Jordan, and Matthew were left. He told them they might as well
leave.

The three boys went to the locker room. Robert Charles watched the two
younger boys undress down to their undies. He was so mad and now so hard.

"How about you guys getting naked."

"Huh?" Matthew said.

"Take your undies off."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Jordan started pulling his off. He was hard as a rock from this whole
thing.

Matthew hesitated and backed away. Robert Charles came after him. Matthew
grabbed onto his waistband. Robert Charles grabbed Matthew and pulled down
hard on his undies. He heard them rip as he pulled them down. He heard
Matthew cry. He didn't care. He pulled his own shorts and undies down while
he pinned Matthew against the wall.

He pushed his dick up against Matthew and started humping his chest. He
rubbed his dick up and down it, grabbed Matthew's soft puppy dick and small
tight balls and tried to get him hard. But all that happened was Matthew
started crying. Robert Charles kept rubbing it up his chest, pushing his
dick hard against it. He almost hit Matthew's chin on the upstroke. He
pushed Matthew to a bench and stuck his dick between Matthew's legs right
under his balls.

"Squeeze it," he whispered.

Matthew squeezed his legs. Robert Charles humped the little boy, and when
he was close he pulled out from between his legs and jacked himself off,
shooting all over Matthew's belly and chest. Then he collapsed down to his
knees. He heard a moan from Jordan, who kneeled down next to Matthew and
started licking up the cum while he jacked himself off. Then he stuck
Matthew's still soft dick into his mouth. But before he could do anything
his body shook hard and he has a wild dry cum, moaning loud and falling on
the floor next to Robert Charles.

When they started getting their breath back, Robert Charles looked at
Matthew. His chest was still wet and sticky. He had tears in his eyes.

"Nobody gets told about this," Robert Charles said.

"You know you don't have to worry about me," Jordan said.

"Matthew?"

Matthew sobbed.

"Matthew you know who my dad is, right?"

Matthew sobbed again and shook his head yes.

"He is a very powerful man, Matthew. If you go telling anybody he can make
things pretty hard on your parents. You hear what I'm saying?"

"Yeah. I won't tell," Matthew said.

"Good." He turned to Jordan. "Is he your boy, Jordan?"

Jordan smiled. "All mine."

Robert Charles smiled back and looked at Matthew. "Stick with Jordan and
stay away from the rest. They're all a bunch of sissy fags."

And you guys aren't? Matthew thought.

Robert Charles pulled up his pants and left. Jordan looked at Matthew. "You
are mine you know. You're my boy." Then he took Matthew and kissed him hard
on the lips. Matthew didn't try returning it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Before school the next morning Robert Charles met with Mr. Z about what
happened the night before. Mr. Z was disappointed. He told Robert Charles
that he was going to lose control if he wasn't careful. But that his new
idea about the gym was a good one. And to help he would have the games room
locked, and also make sure Alex and Stevie would not be able to use the
hold to play their music in. It was probably Marie who gave them the
code. She was way too soft on kids. They had no business being down there
at all. It was dangerous. Then he told Robert Charles a good leader knows
when to lighten up and back down a little. And knows when to be tough again
and maybe now was a time to lighten up.

When class started Robert Charlesd talked to the class first. "I guess I
was kind of hard on you guys. Let's meet in the gym tonight and all have
fun. No penalty crap. That was wrong of me. Just some good old fun. I'll
see you then."

Alex leaned over and whispered to Mike, "What a big phony. Watch out for
RCs talking nice."

From there the day went pretty normal. Every now and then though they could
feel the ship shake a little like something hit it. That had them all
wondering. What could be shaking the ship in the middle of warp space?

Some of the boys talked about seeing the flashing lights from out of the
windows. Mr. Z told them about the warp storm ahead. He explained warp
storms and what was known about them. Jordan said he was in one when he
was 8 and it was a little scary but nothing happened other than the ship
shaking some and the lights going out. Everyone was a little nervous, but
they all felt there wasn't a lot to worry about.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Up in a room by the bridge the Captain was meeting with the Chief Engineer
and Scooter's dad. They were talking about the warp enhancer.

"I think it should be shut down now," Scooter's dad said.

"I don't see what difference it makes," the Chief Engineer said.

"It's never been used in a warp storm. We don't know what effect it will
have. We're going way faster now. I think it's the safe thing to do."

The ship shook again.

"I don't think it makes any difference. Besides, we're already starting
into the storm and we all know what happens when you leave warp during a
storm."

"But we aren't leaving warp. And nobody knows the enhancer better than I
do. I have been doing some calculating, and it looks like having the
enhancer on in the storm will enhance the effects of the storm. It will
make it seem stronger."

The Captain asked him if he was sure of his figures. Scooter's dad said he
was about half sure since it had never happened. But it seemed to make
sense and that the safe thing to do was shut down the enhancer now.

"It will cost us a couple of days," the Captain said.

"So what? It's the safe thing to do. Remember, you said this wasn't the
"Titanic". Now it the time to show that is true. Shut it down."

The ship started shaking again. Then again.

"I think if we weren't on the edge of the storm I would do that,
Gordon. But I'm worried what would happen if we changed our speed when we
were getting hit by a warp ball. So, I'm going to keep the enhancer on. The
only time a storm has ever destroyed a ship that we know of is when it has
changed speeds." He looked at the Chief Engineer and said, "Leave it on."

"I think you're wrong again, Captain. I want that in the log. I think
leaving the enhancer on is more dangerous than turning it off."

"I understand, Gordon. I'm not totally sure this is the right decision, but
I have to go with what has happened before. Changing speeds in a storm is
the only thing that has destroyed a ship."

Gordon left the Captain's office. He was very upset.

The Captain then turned on the PA system. He announced everything was being
canceled during the storm and all passengers should stay in their cabins.

Mr. Z. dismissed class as the ship shook two more times. Everybody left for
a cabin.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Not everybody went back to their own cabin. Douglas got permission to stay
with Scooter. His parents had read about warp storms and knew they were
rough but usually not dangerous. They were happy to have Douglas with his
friend so they could do something together. They were only five cabins away
if something happened.

Marie wanted the boys who were in their own cabins to be with an
adult. Alex went to Mike's cabin and Stevie to Jim's. They talked about
being together, but decided being with their new boyfriends was the way to
go. Ryan went to Travis's cabin and Jeremy went to Braden's. All of the
boyfriends were together.

Each cabin had an emergency food supply. The dining halls were
closed. There was enough food for 5 days, but most storms only lasted a
couple of days. There was a microwave for cooking.

Scooter and Douglas sat on Scooter's bed making out. They talked about what
Alex and Stevie did for Mike and about coming out gay and in love in front
of all their friends. And they talked about how all their friends seemed to
be the same as they were. They were kissing and making out as the ship
shook and bounced more and more.

Pretty soon they were just lying in bed holding each other. The ship shook
and bounced harder and harder. It started shaking sideways and up and down.

Suddenly there was huge bang, a long loud shake, and the lights went out
except the emergency lights. Then Scooter and Douglas were thrown on the
floor and the ship started shaking and spinning. They could hear crashing
noises. The ship spun again and they were thrown up against the
wall. Scooter was screaming. Douglas grabbed him and held him. The ship
stopped spinning as much but it was shaking and moving back and forth. It
would bounce and shake. It was impossible to stand up. This was way rougher
than anybody said it would be.

Scooter and Douglas crawled to the bedroom door and opened it. They went
into the cabin living room. Scooter's dad was on the floor trying to make a
call.

"Scooter. Douglas. Are you ok?" He had to yell to be heard.

"Yeah!" Scooter yelled back. "Are you?"

"I think my leg is broken." Then he started talking into the phone. "Turn
off the enhancer. We're being torn apart."

He listened. Then he said, "I've figured out a shutdown code that should
solve that." He listened some more. "Okay, here is the shutdown code. It's
one seven..." The ship shook hard and lurched. It felt like it was racing
faster and faster with each lurch.

"Damn, the line is dead." Scooter could see that his dad was in pain even
in the dark room. The ship kept shaking and lurching. Scooter's dad tried
some other numbers. Nothing happened. Another lurch. Something crashed in
the room.

"Scooter. Douglas. I think I have a broken leg or I would do this. And
without power we can't buzz another door, like Doug's parent's. The code
has to go to Engineering or the ship is going to fall apart. The enhancer
is making it speed faster and faster with each warp ball it hits. We're out
of control. It's gotta be up to you, Scooter."

"Douglas has to go with me. I'm going to need him."

"It's going to be dangerous, Douglas."

Douglas was holding Scooter tight. "I don't care. I love him. I would die
for him. I won't let him go alone. And like you said, we have to shut it
down to save the ship. So going isnt near as dangerous as staying here
doing nothing."

Scooter's dad didn't have time to think about what Douglas just said. He
had to give the boys instructions. "I can't make you go."

"You're not. I'm volunteering."

Scooter's dad started writing. "This code is for the elevator, if it
works. It goes on emergency power so it should. It will get you to the crew
section. This code will get you into engineering. Give this shut down code
to the engineer."

"Dad, what if something happened to them? What if they are hurt and can't
put the code in?"

"Hmmm. Good point Scooter. We better be ready for that."

Gordon described the warp enhancer and where it was. Then he gave them the
code to get into the computer. "A screen will light up. Then you click on
the Disconnect icon. It will ask you for the last code. You have only one
chance at this code. It is six digits. You can't miss one. Any mistake
could throw the ship out of warp and destroy it. I can't tell you how
important it is to get the code right. It will disconnect the Warp Enhancer
but it will slow the disconnect way down and not take the ship out of
warp. If my calculations are correct."

The ship shook and rattled and made noises. Scooter and Douglas used the
manual door opener and got out into the hall. Only the emergency lights
were on. The ship was shaking and lurching and sometimes spinning. They had
to crawl up the hall to the elevator.

Douglas reached for the button. They both hoped the elevator was
working. They didn't want to have to climb the emergency stairs. Suddenly
the doors opened. It was working. They got into it. Scooter got on his
knees and punched in the code for the crew section. The doors closed and
the elevator started up. The ship kept shaking and they got banged against
the walls. Both of them were bruised.

Suddenly there was loud bang, the ship shook, and the elevator started
falling. Scooter and Douglas felt almost weightless as it dropped
down. They both were screaming. Douglas punched the emergency stop button
and the elevator screeched to a stop. The boys sat on the floor shaking.

"Now what?" Scooter asked.

"Punch the code in again," Douglas said.

"No. We will crash again."

"We have no choice, Scooter. We have to get the code up to Engineering. We
have to see if this elevator still works"

Scooter punched in the code again. The ship shook. Nothing happened.

"Punch it again, Scooter."

Scooter punched it in one more time. They both held their breath. Then it
started slowly moving up. The ship kept shaking and they kept getting
knocked around. Scooter grabbed hold of Douglas and held him tight. The
floor number light wasn't working so they had to hope that when the
elevator stopped it would be on the right floor. If it made it up there.

Suddenly it stopped. Nothing happened. They both waited for it to fall
again. But still nothing happened. But the ship shook again and again and
again.

"We have to get out. We have to get that code there if we want to make it."

Douglas desperately pushed the open door button. Scooter and Douglas both
were surprised when it actually opened.

Douglas shined their flashlight on the floor number. It was the right
floor. Now they had to go to Engineering. They headed the way Scooter's dad
told them to. They turned two corners and at the end of that hall was a
door. The sign on it said Engineering. Scooter punched in the code.
Nothing happened.

"Shit," Douglas said. "Your dad said the outside door codes weren't
working. What made him think this one was."

"Maybe the crew ones work on battery power. Maybe I just keyed it wrong."

Scooter tried again. This time the door opened. Damn, Douglas thought, he
better not put the wrong code into the Warp Enhancer or we're all dead.

The Engineering area was huge. Lots of lights. But they didn't see
anybody. The room was empty. The ship shook again and knocked them
down. Then it started spinning and then stopped. The boys grabbed on to a
railing as the ship tilted side to side. Their hearts were beating
wildly. They both were sweating they were so scared.

They got to a ladder. To get to the Warp Enhancer they had to go up a deck
to a small landing. It meant going up a ladder. Scooter started up. Douglas
followed. The ship shook and tilted. Scooter felt himself slipping but
grabbed the ladder tight with one hand. His swimming experience was paying
off. He was used to grabbing ladders.

They started up again sometimes hanging on for dear life. Scooter finally
crawled up off the ladder and onto the small deck. The landing was on top
of the Warp Drive control board. Douglas got up too. Only a double railing
was between them and falling off to the floor below. And there was nothing
at the opening where the ladder came up.

Douglas looked down at the huge main Engineering deck.

"Scooter, look down there!"

Scooter looked where Douglas was pointing. He saw two crewmen on the floor
who looked unconscious. One of them looked like the Chief Engineer.

"Looks like it's up to us Scooter."

"Yeah." Scooter was shaking. Both boys were scared beyond belief.

The ship shook and knocked them down. Scooter started sliding under the
railing. Douglas grabbed his wrist and slowed him down until the ship
leveled off some. They crawled over to the Warp Enhancer. Scooter got on
his knees in front of the keyboard. He punched in the code.

Douglas was behind him holding him up as the ship spun and lurched.

Nothing happened. Scooter punched it again. Still nothing.

"Douglas. I can't do it. I can't get it right. I'm going to kill us all."

"Scooter. I'm bigger than you. I can hold you steadier than you can hold
me."

"I messed up the door code. Now I've messed up this code. I can't mess up
the final code. I only have once chance." Tears were pouring down his face.

"You can do it, Scooter. I know you can. I love you. My love will be with
you. I will be in your soul." The ship shook harder and harder. It shook
something into Douglas's brain. "We're soulmates, Scooter. You're my
soulmate!!!! We can do this together!"

Scooter punched the code into the shaking keyboard one more time. Suddenly
the screen lit up. Scooter smiled. Yeahhhhhhhhhh, he thought, WE can do
it.

On the touch screen he hit Disconnect. A number panel lit up. The ship and
the screen were shaking. Douglas had his arms wrapped around Scooter
holding him tight. He knew the six digits by heart. He thought the first
one at Scooter. Scooter punched it in. Then the second.

Then the third. Another hard shake. The ship sounded like it was tearing
apart. It screeched like big pieces of metal were rubbing together.

"I can't do it Douglas!!!!!!" Scooter screamed.

"WE'RE doing great Scooter. Put in the fourth one."

Douglas thought eight, eight eight, eight....and Scooter punched it. Two
more digits to go. Douglas thought five, five, five, and saw Scooter punch
it. One more to go. He could feel Scooter shaking in his arms. He watched
Scooter's finger go to the screen and hover over the seven. Yes, yes, yes,
he thought. He saw Scooter's finger head for the screen. Suddenly the ship
dropped almost straight down as Scooter's finger hit the screen. He and
Douglas slid back across the deck. Douglas lost his hold on Scooter. He
tried to grab Scooter's hand as he slid by. He couldn't get it. Scooter
was heading for the railing.

"SCOOTER!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Scooter's small body went under the
railing and over the side. Douglas was still sliding. His head hit on
something and everything went black.

NOTE: Those of you who followed this in Teentales may have noticed the
change of name for Braden. This was done for some personal reasons I won't
go into here. I know it probably makes next to no sense in the story, but
it makes some friends happy, not to mention me. I like making my friends
happy. So take a deep breath, accept the fact that Braden has suddenly
become Brett, and read on. Thanks.